Sam's the man

David Gold has praised Sam Allardyce for being the driving force behind West Ham signing Andy Carroll from Liverpool.

The 23-year-old England international completed a season-long loan move to West Ham last night following weeks of speculation - and co-owner Gold was in no doubt who was ultimately to thank for bringing the deal to fruition.

"It's Sam who convinced him," Gold told a TV sports network. "I think it's the fact that he's joining people that he knows; Kevin Nolan for example. They've been pals for a long time.

"They worked together at Newcastle and Sam was also at Newcastle, of course. I think it's important that he feels he's not going to a club where he's a complete stranger.

"That's a key issue. A player feels comfortable coming to a club where he has people that he's comfortable with."

Speaking earlier in the day, Allardyce was equally full of praise for Gold and his fellow co-owner David Sullivan for allowing him to make the deal happen.

"It's a real coup for the club," he said. "The co-owners - particularly David Sullivan - worked particularly hard with me over a very short period of time to get this deal through so I'm really appreciative of that.

"Hopefully Andy will pay everybody back for the faith we've shown in him."